The danger of high resolution and sharpness

[Eldar]

I have just made a 6 image stitched panorama of the view from a house I´m renting, in a hill above Chania og Crete. I used my newly acquired 5DSR. The resulting image is about 270MP and the resolution and detail and sharpness and ... , whatever you´re after, is astonishing, fantastic, awesome, impressive, almost beyond belief ... etc.
I tried to export from LR on a format I could use on CR, but it refused to use "only" 4MP :

But then it struck me, what are we after?

One of my other passions in life is music. Many would probably call my an audiofile. At a certain point in my strive for the absolute sound, I realized that I was not listening to music anymore. I was totally consumed with resolution, dynamics, with, height, depth, sound stage, over harmonics, bass punch, instrument positioning, voice texture etc. etc. Until I one day realized; I have to re-learn how to listen to music. I will not tire you with how I did that, but I did. So today I have a fantastic hifi setup, where I enjoy lots of great music.

Photography is about to end up in a similar situation. We pixle peep and read test charts, we want resolution, we want dynamics, we want less noise, we want contrast, color, no CA etc. etc. But is that what a photograph is about?

The other day I went through some of my older images and I found one, shot with the 50mm f1.2L. Not the EF version, but the FD version. Shot on a Canon New F1 in 1987, with Kodachrome 25. If you held this photograph up, next to one shot with a 5DSR and the Otus 55/1.4, it would (technically) look like a poor image, shot by a technical imbecile. Resolution, edge sharpness and all the rest of it would end up in the dust. But the picture is still a great picture. Firstly because the composition is good and secondly because it has great light. (It is very private, so you can´t see it )

So the question is; Are we losing track of why we are doing this, in all this technical progression? Are we losing our ability to see a good picture in our strive for technical perfection?

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

The composition and subject are by far more important than the resolution, but better image IQ can enhance a excellent photo. However, you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear, and I try that repeatedly with no luck so far.

I like good tools that just do their job and don't get in the way, but with a little more effort, I can usually make a inexpensive tool work. Low light is the most difficult for me, I've grown used to my 5D MK III being able to take good quality images without bright studio or outdoor lighting. I had my old S3 IS laying around, and took a couple photos to post a item on craigslist. The lighting was dim room lighting that the 5D MK III would take in stride, but what I got was horrible noise. I'd forgotten about the huge differences that equipment can make under difficult conditions. I usually use my G1X II for situations like that. It can handle the low light, but colors are off.

 

[Sporgon]

I have just made a 6 image stitched panorama of the view from a house I´m renting, in a hill above Chania og Crete. I used my newly acquired 5DSR. The resulting image is about 270MP and the resolution and detail and sharpness and ... , whatever you´re after, is astonishing, fantastic, awesome, impressive, almost beyond belief ... etc.
I tried to export from LR on a format I could use on CR, but it refused to use "only" 4MP :

But then it struck me, what are we after?

One of my other passions in life is music. Many would probably call my an audiofile. At a certain point in my strive for the absolute sound, I realized that I was not listening to music anymore. I was totally consumed with resolution, dynamics, with, height, depth, sound stage, over harmonics, bass punch, instrument positioning, voice texture etc. etc. Until I one day realized; I have to re-learn how to listen to music. I will not tire you with how I did that, but I did. So today I have a fantastic hifi setup, where I enjoy lots of great music.

Photography is about to end up in a similar situation. We pixle peep and read test charts, we want resolution, we want dynamics, we want less noise, we want contrast, color, no CA etc. etc. But is that what a photograph is about?

The other day I went through some of my older images and I found one, shot with the 50mm f1.2L. Not the EF version, but the FD version. Shot on a Canon New F1 in 1987, with Kodachrome 25. If you held this photograph up, next to one shot with a 5DSR and the Otus 55/1.4, it would (technically) look like a poor image, shot by a technical imbecile. Resolution, edge sharpness and all the rest of it would end up in the dust. But the picture is still a great picture. Firstly because the composition is good and secondly because it has great light. (It is very private, so you can´t see it )

So the question is; Are we losing track of why we are doing this, in all this technical progression? Are we losing our ability to see a good picture in our strive for technical perfection?

Sounds like Crete in bringing out the philosopher in you Eldar ! Must be the Minoan influence. I think you have made two very valid points. Firstly the 5Ds is probably not that suitable for producing panoramics due to the file size, and secondly there is a real danger nowadays of not seeing the wood for the trees. When something is too 'perfect' it can lose that edge that makes it interesting; it becomes soulless.

I always reduce in PS.

Try mRaw or even sRaw for panos, but convert in DPP before stitching. Enjoy your holiday !

 

[Don Haines]

I agree... plus, today's cameras are so good that the differences between them is shrinking. Any of the new DSLRs will take fantastic pictures in the right hands. People are getting obsessed with minutiae.

The nicest picture I ever took was in 1989 with my trusty OM-1 and Kodachrome 64. What makes it so nice is that I had to paddle two weeks to get there and was treated to the yellowest sunset I have ever seen. (I was then windbound for 4 days). I have taken thousands of more technically correct photos, but this is the one that evokes the greatest emotional response.

 

[Don Haines]

I think that this is my best digital picture... once again, not for technical reasons, but because of the three days of paddling and portaging to get there.... and because it evokes the memory of paddling on a mirror surrounded by fantastic fall colours.

shot with a 1.3Mpixel P/S camera.....

 

[msm]

Nice shots Don!

 

[Eldar]

Nice shots Don!

Indeed! Proves my point, I think.

Kjetil Bjørnstad, a great Norwegian composer, musician, writer and music critique, reviewed Steely Dan's Gaucho (for those of you who remember that album. His headline was "The professional emptiness". You can listen through it for days, without finding a single note or tone out of position. But where is the soul?

And, Sporgon, it's easy to become philosophical in this place

 

[msm]

So the question is; Are we losing track of why we are doing this, in all this technical progression? Are we losing our ability to see a good picture in our strive for technical perfection?

The way I see it, this forum is full of gear collectors obsessed with owning "the best" gear but not so concerned about taking the best picture. I shoot for fun and have no ambition of winning awards etc and I find it more fun with the right gear so I guess I am one of them...

 

[meywd]

Do I need a Rolex to tell time? Of course not, do I want one? Absolutely

 

[privatebydesign]

I am of the opinion that I really look at the results of any new piece of equipment and what effect it actually has on my image output.

Because of that I am still using 7 year old bodies and some 10+ year old lenses, sure the MkII 70-200 is 'sharper' on a bench, but I found it didn't add anything to my actual pictures, so I still use my MkI, same with the 24-70 MkI vs MkII. Now the 16-35 f4 IS was a quantum leap up from the 16-35 f2.8 MkI and II in IQ so that was a no brainer.

But people own photo gear for different reasons, for some the gear is the hobby, they like the forums, the magazines, the social aspects and meetups that clubs and groups put on. Others are all about the pictures, most of us fall somewhere between the two.

 

[wsmith96]

So the question is; Are we losing track of why we are doing this, in all this technical progression? Are we losing our ability to see a good picture in our strive for technical perfection?

This is what happened to me about a year ago. I posted on the CR forum a message titled "photographer's block" and asked what to do for it. I'm a gear head so I ended up spending more time reading, analyzing, dreaming of a perfect kit that would allow me to take any photograph I wanted and the results would always be awesome, than actually doing any photography work. So, I put the brakes on and stepped away for a while. Funny thing is that the more I purchased, the less satisfied I was and I discovered that the reason for that was I had lost the desire to take meaningful pictures. That desire was replaced by equipment hording.

So I've "found my swing" again, to quote bagger Vance and I'm making more strategic moves with my gear, if any moves at all, and working to get the pictures right rather than the equipment. I'm amazed at what my second hand 5D can do - especially with the 24-105. That's a great combo

 

[Sporgon]

I think that this is my best digital picture... once again, not for technical reasons, but because of the three days of paddling and portaging to get there.... and because it evokes the memory of paddling on a mirror surrounded by fantastic fall colours.

shot with a 1.3Mpixel P/S camera.....

That shot has certainly got something about it.......

I think the low resolution has actually added to the effect. A very pleasing shot, and I didn't have to paddle for three days !

Have you seen any 'pallet knife' paintings ? They are certainly not about the resolution ;D

 

[candc]

Its called "tone chasing" with guitar players. You get so obsessed with your sound that all you do is play mindless bits for hours trying to tweak your tone instead of playing from the heart or writing anything new. Its a hard trap to get out of. Sometimes its best to just step away for a while.

 

[Don Haines]

Nice shots Don!

Indeed! Proves my point, I think.

Kjetil Bjørnstad, a great Norwegian composer, musician, writer and music critique, reviewed Steely Dan's Gaucho (for those of you who remember that album. His headline was "The professional emptiness". You can listen through it for days, without finding a single note or tone out of position. But where is the soul?

And, Sporgon, it's easy to become philosophical in this place

It's not technical excellence that makes a great photo, it's how the image interacts with your soul. As an example, look at shadows... yes, more DR or HDR can bring out more detail in the shadows, but sometimes doing so ruins the mood or the feel of the image. Sometimes it is your imagination that makes an image great and bringing out the details ruins that feeling.

 

[neuroanatomist]

I don't strive for technical perfection. I do prefer gear that delivers quality images that I enjoy, and does so without hindering me. Since time is often my most limiting factor, things like reliability, robustness, and weather sealing are important to me.

Here's a shot from ~10 years ago, taken with a 4 MP superzoom P&S after a 2.5 hour hike up a (dormant) volcano through a steamy jungle in Rwanda. Would it have been technically better with my current FF dSLR and 70-300L? Sure. But that doesn't detract from the image one bit.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Do I need a Rolex to tell time? Of course not, do I want one? Absolutely

Actually, I don't. It is just a magnet for thieves and muggers.

 

[meywd]

Do I need a Rolex to tell time? Of course not, do I want one? Absolutely

Actually, I don't. It is just a magnet for thieves and muggers.

Hahahahaha, what about a server setup with dual Xeon 8-core HT CPUs, 64GB RAM, GTX 980 3- way SLI, triple 30" 4K monitors, 1 TB Raid 0 SSD, and 12 TB Raid 10 NAS? ;D

The meaning is, rarely people need the top of the line equipment, but they 1) drool over it, 2) it makes things easier, I understand that being oppressed with the technical stuff might take away from the hobby it self, that's why a balance is needed, if you restrain yourself with a budget - or life does that for you - you will only get the most efficient equipment, tbh I have too many expensive hobbies and really glad I only have the budget to get part of what I dream of getting, but if I had the budget, I would travel to every city in the world and do the giga pan shot like the one they did in London, you don't know what to do with a-couple-of-shots-pano from the 5Dsr, I would love to make giga pixel panos, I don't see this as a wake up call, you have amazing equipment, use it - and enjoy it - to the fullest

 

[ajfotofilmagem]

I always wonder if Jimmy Hendrix would still be brilliant with current technology.

Pink Floyd seems to me a good example of band that made good use of every different decade technology.

 

[AcutancePhotography]

Technical capability should be a means to an end, not the end itself.

I strive... sometimes successfully, to improve my technical capability so that I can apply that capability and take a frickin' photograph that does not suck too much. ;D

 

[Dylan777]

I have just made a 6 image stitched panorama of the view from a house I´m renting, in a hill above Chania og Crete. I used my newly acquired 5DSR. The resulting image is about 270MP and the resolution and detail and sharpness and ... , whatever you´re after, is astonishing, fantastic, awesome, impressive, almost beyond belief ... etc.
I tried to export from LR on a format I could use on CR, but it refused to use "only" 4MP :

But then it struck me, what are we after?

One of my other passions in life is music. Many would probably call my an audiofile. At a certain point in my strive for the absolute sound, I realized that I was not listening to music anymore. I was totally consumed with resolution, dynamics, with, height, depth, sound stage, over harmonics, bass punch, instrument positioning, voice texture etc. etc. Until I one day realized; I have to re-learn how to listen to music. I will not tire you with how I did that, but I did. So today I have a fantastic hifi setup, where I enjoy lots of great music.

Photography is about to end up in a similar situation. We pixle peep and read test charts, we want resolution, we want dynamics, we want less noise, we want contrast, color, no CA etc. etc. But is that what a photograph is about?

The other day I went through some of my older images and I found one, shot with the 50mm f1.2L. Not the EF version, but the FD version. Shot on a Canon New F1 in 1987, with Kodachrome 25. If you held this photograph up, next to one shot with a 5DSR and the Otus 55/1.4, it would (technically) look like a poor image, shot by a technical imbecile. Resolution, edge sharpness and all the rest of it would end up in the dust. But the picture is still a great picture. Firstly because the composition is good and secondly because it has great light. (It is very private, so you can´t see it )

So the question is; Are we losing track of why we are doing this, in all this technical progression? Are we losing our ability to see a good picture in our strive for technical perfection?

I feel...I'm on that side sometime.

100% agree with you on this Eldar. Thank you so much for reminding me what is photography is all about.